The Rutland village of Ashwell, next to which the Harrier jet crashed, has a population of around 200 and is surrounded by farmland

Another resident added: 'Some people saw the plane come down in a ball of flame and the pilot ejecting seconds before it hit the ground.

'The first I knew about it was when I saw the black smoke. Then we heard lots of sirens and saw helicopters flying all around the village.

'Everyone is just relieved that nobody has been hurt. I dread to think what would have happened if it had crashed into the houses.'

Fellow villager, Vic Harrison, 73, said: 'I thought the pilot didn't stand a chance, but then I looked up and saw his parachute. I really thought he had hit the houses. It was a narrow miss - it must have been 400 metres from our house.'

The crash is the latest involving a Harrier. Two years ago a GR9 from Cottesmore crashed near Oxford and four years earlier two Harriers were lost in separate crashes.

An RAF spokeswoman confirmed the pilot ejected with a parachute and was taken to hospital after being found 'conscious' nearby.

She added: 'The Harrier came down near the airfield. We had an incident team at the site with seven minutes of the ejection notice.'